What is the Google+ Project? A Look Inside…

By now, almost everyone has heard about the new and exciting release of the Google+ Project, the latest product from Google. I myself have only been using it for a few weeks, so I am still trying to get use to it and test out all of the features it has. This is the latest attempt at Google trying to keep up with the social media standards set by Twitter and Facebook…and I think they got it right.

From my short experience with Google+ I can already tell that this is going to be a game charger in Social Media. If you haven’t had a chance to check out Google+ yet, let me breakdown each of the different features so you have a better idea of how it works.

The Google+ Features….

The Stream

Similar to Facebook and Twitter, Google has what they call a “Stream”, which is your Home for the latest updates from the people you are following or part of your Circle. Only people who you choose to be part of your Circle will display their updates on your main Stream. People can easily add updates with text, links, photo. video and/or location and share them with their connections.

Creating Your Circles

Google+ provides you the ability to segment or group your connections in to different “Circles”, that allow you to easily organize and browse updates from specific groups of users. You still are able to view a main stream update from all your connections, however if you wanted to filter the updates to only “Friends” or “Photographer Buddies” you can do so.

Feel free to create as many Circles as you would like, depending on how granular you want to segment the different people you connect with on the web!

Your Profile

Google has always had the Google Profile (connect with me!) feature, however they have now integrated your profile with the rest of the Google+ feature set. This allows you to tell people about yourself, share blogs, photos, videos, and content you enjoy on the internet.

Chat & Video (aka…Hangouts)

Another great feature of the Google+ Project is the ability to chat, talk and have live video chats with other Googlers who are in your Circles. We have all known about Google Chat and Google Voice for some time now, but “Hangouts” is the latest technology and communication feature that they have integrated to Google+.

Google Hangouts allows you to add up to 10 people in your Circles to all video chat at the same time, all from one screen.

Google+ Gone Mobile

If you are on the go, still keep your connections up to date with what you are doing. With the Google+ App, you can do everything you can on your computer, from your phone. They have also included a feature called “Huddle” that allows you to group text people, for a group conversation that brings everyone together and on the same page.

I am eager to hear everyone’s feedback, as I just started using this product a few weeks ago and am still understanding and learning it’s powers. Most important, tell me your thoughts on how you feel Google+ can be used as a marketing tool for businesses.

About the Author

Mark is the creator of StayOnSearch and president of Search Creatively, a full-service Internet Marketing Company located in Raleigh, North Carolina. He also contributes to many industry related blogs including Search Engine Journal and is active on Facebook and Twitter.
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